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      Liz Cheney’s ousting proves the ‘big lie’ is the Republican party’s religion

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      Lafayette Square, outside the White House, reopened this week to strolling couples, tourists and scampering children. After nearly a year sealed off by eight-foot metal fencing, it was one more sign of life in America getting back to normal.Then there’s the danger. For more than three months it’s been tempting for many to assume that, with Joe Biden in the White House and Donald Trump off Twitter, democracy survived its near-death experience, recovered and checked out of hospital. But the ousting of Liz Cheney by the Republican party shows that the potential for a relapse is all too real.Cheney, the number three Republican in the House of Representatives, was essentially terminated for refusing to embrace Trump’s “big lie”, the false claim of a stolen presidential election. “I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president’s crusade to undermine our democracy,” she said on the House floor on Tuesday night.Cheney is an unlikely Joan of Arc. Her father, Dick, was George W Bush’s vice president and mastermind of his “war on terror”, torture included. Maureen Dowd, a columnist for the New York Times, notes that Dick Cheney’s big lie about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, defended to the hilt by Liz, “created the template for Trump’s big lie”.But while the messenger is flawed, the message is unassailable: the constitution, the rule of law, an adherence to fact-based reality itself are all imperiled for as long as one of America’s two great parties has gone rogue. Republicans could have seen the light, exorcised Trump and returned to these principles. The deadly insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January even offered an obvious exit ramp.On that day, Senator Lindsey Graham declared: “Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way… All I can say, is count me out, enough is enough.” Later Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, declared that Trump “bears responsibility” for the attack. Finally, it seemed, the fever was breaking.Yet now McCarthy is the architect of Cheney’s downfall, claiming it essential to party unity, while Graham offered donors the prize of playing a round of golf with himself and Trump.Reports of a civil war within the Republican party were always greatly exaggerated, the result of wishful thinking and restless journalists looking for a new angle. On Tuesday it emerged that more than a hundred Republicans, including former elected officials, are threatening to break away and form a third party – a sign that the struggle for the mother ship itself has been lost.The ousting of Cheney snuffs out all doubt. Republicans don’t think they can win next year’s midterm elections without Trump. McCarthy believes that the “Make America great again movement” is his ticket to the speaker’s chair.He might be right. With redistricting likely to cut into Democrats’ narrow majority, and with historical trends favouring the party that does not hold the White House, Republicans do indeed stand a strong chance of taking back the House, even if the economy is surging under Biden.Tara Setmayer, a political analyst and former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill, says: “All of the political winds are at the backs of Republicans to take the House again so they’re catering to the most rabid supporters. These are the folks who pay attention in midterms. It’s a numbers game and they are so close to taking power back in the House.”Which is where things get very dangerous. If Trump is the new church where all must worship, the big lie is the new religion that all must incant, whether with evangelical fervour or at least by showing their face in the pews every Sunday. Cheney’s likely replacement, Elise Stefanik, is actually more moderate (a lifetime rating of just 43.64 by the American Conservative Union, compared to Cheney’s 78.03), but her refusal to denounce the big lie is apparently all that matters.So Republican state legislatures will continue to use the false claims of fraud to justify new voting restrictions that disproportionately affect people of colour. And come the next presidential election, there is reason to doubt whether a Republican-controlled House would certify the win of a Democratic president. The near miss of 2020 could become a full-blown crisis in 2024.Eugene Robinson, a Washington Post columnist, warns: “The greatest threat to our nation’s future is not Covid-19 or the rise of China or even the existential challenge of climate change. It is the Republican party’s attempt to seize and hold power by offering voters the seductive choice of rejecting inconvenient facts and basic logic.”It is easy to assume that Trump was a one-off anomaly and that Biden represents the democratic norm running on autopilot. But what if Biden is the one-off, merely delaying a slide into autocracy? Cheney’s demise is a reminder that though Biden won his “battle for the soul of America”, the war never ends. Complacency is the enemy; vigilance is all. More

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      Liz Cheney expected to be removed from House leadership over Trump criticism

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      Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming is facing removal from her leadership position in the Republican caucus of the House of Representatives on Wednesday morning in an internal battle seen as a bellwether of the future direction of the party.Cheney’s ouster is widely expected after she found herself at odds with other members of Republican leadership over her refusal to stop blaming Donald Trump for inciting the mob attack on the United States Capitol on 6 January.The daughter of the former vice-president Dick Cheney, Cheney has become a symbol of a dwindling band of Republicans largely opposed to Trump’s vice-like grip on the party. Even though she is a staunch conservative, she has faced implacable hostility from Trump and his loyalists.The vote is among members of the Republican caucus in the chamber and is set to be conducted by secret ballot.Cheney had faced the threat of removal from her leading role before, but she survived that handily, in part, thanks to support from other members of Republican leadership. This time is different though. Cheney has lost support from Congressman Kevin McCarthy of California, the House minority leader, and Congressman Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House minority whip.McCarthy has endorsed Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York to replace Cheney.“Yes I do,” the top congressional Republican said in an interview on Fox News when asked if the New York congresswoman had his support now instead of Cheney.McCarthy has been eager to oust Cheney from leadership. He was recently caught on a hot mic saying: “I’ve had it with her.”McCarthy set the vote for a new conference chair for Wednesday. In a letter announcing the new election, the California representative echoed arguments many Republicans made against Cheney – that her ongoing criticism of Trump was distracting from Republicans’ primary efforts to retake control of the House.“This is no time to take our eye off the ball,” McCarthy wrote in the letter. “If we are to succeed in stopping the radical Democrat agenda from destroying our country, these internal conflicts need to be resolved so as to not detract from the efforts of our collective team. Having heard from so many of you in recent days, it’s clear that we need to make a change.”The main driver behind the attack on Cheney, though, has been Trump, who has fumed about Cheney’s criticism and her decision to vote to impeach the president, alongside almost a dozen other House Republicans. Cheney has been the highest-ranking outspoken anti-Trump Republican in Congress. That stance looks to be felt back home where multiple candidates have jumped into the Republican primary to oust Cheney from her congressional seat.Trump and his allies are assessing who to support in that primary. The former president’s political operation is watching the primary field closely, looking to see who might emerge as the strongest challenger to Cheney.Cheney’s troubles are the latest sign that Trump’s influence is still hugely powerful within the Republican party, more so than any of the other recent Republicans who were elected president or were nominated to be president.Cheney herself is no newcomer to primary challengers. She once ran for Senate in Wyoming, challenging then-senator Mike Enzi. She ended up dropping out after failing to get serious traction. She was later elected to Congress as the sole representative from the state.Ahead of the vote, Cheney has some support from some like-minded Republican allies.Expelling Liz Cheney from leadership won’t gain the GOP one additional voter, but it will cost us quite a few.— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) May 10, 2021
      Late on Monday night Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington’s office said she planned to vote for Cheney to keep her leadership position.“Jaime will be voting to keep the House leadership in place,” Craig Wheeler, a Beutler spokesperson, said in an email to the Guardian.Congressman Adam Kinzinger, another outspoken anti-Trump Republican, has sent fundraising pitches and email list-building pleas in support of Cheney. More

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      Liz Cheney: why does the Republican party want to oust her?

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      The battle to unseat Republican congresswoman Elizabeth Cheney from her leadership position in the party is a dispute that goes far beyond simple jockeying for power by politicians.It is instead widely seen as a litmus test for the direction of the Republican party as it grapples with the enduring power of Donald Trump, the former president who remains hugely popular with its base and thus a force to be reckoned with by party leaders.Cheney has emerged as a vocal critic of Trump, especially since the attack on the Capitol on 6 January by Trump supporters. But her price for her outspokenness has been an attempt to oust her from party leadership – and maybe even to lose her congressional seat to a Republican challenger.Who is Liz Cheney?Cheney is a congresswoman from Wyoming and a staunch conservative who is also the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney – a man who previously occupied the position of “liberal hate figure” before Trump appeared. She is also one of the most senior women in a party with few in top positions.Why does the party want to oust her?Cheney has angered Trump, and by extension his base and other Trump-supporting politicians, by slamming the former president for the attack on the Capitol on 6 January. She also been critical of Trump’s propagating of false claims that the 2020 election that Joe Biden won was somehow carried out fraudulently.So what is happening?Congressional Republicans are meeting to hold a secret ballot to vote on whether to oust Cheney from her leadership position in the House of Representatives, saying she is out of touch with the grassroots of the party. She is also being challenged in her Wyoming congressional seat.What does it mean?Bluntly, Cheney should be untouchable on paper. She’s a high-profile woman in a party that desperately needs them. She’s a true conservative and daughter of a powerful party elder. On policy, she is widely seen as more conservative than the woman many now tip to succeed her, the New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik.But in the post-Trump Republican party none of that seems to matter as much. Policy and networking have fallen prey to one thing: a Trump loyalty test. And with her outspoken criticism of the former president, Cheney has failed that exam spectacularly.What next?If Cheney is ousted – as seems very likely – the few other prominent anti-Trump voices will see it as a chastening moment that will keep their already weak movement even more in the background of Republican politics. It will send a message that to thrive in the next few years in the current incarnation of the party, loyalty to Trump is the be all and end all as the US looks to the 2022 midterm elections and the 2024 presidential contest. More

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      Liz Cheney castigates Republican colleagues for backing Trump – video

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      The US representative Liz Cheney, speaking in the House a day before her expected ouster from a Republican leadership post, chastised her party colleagues for not standing up to the former president Donald Trump and his false claim that the November election was stolen. ’Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that,’ she said. 
      Cheney, the No 3 Republican in the House of Representatives, was one of 10 Republicans in the House who voted to impeach Trump in January after he delivered a fiery 6 January speech to supporters, many of whom then stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to block certification of his election loss to Joe Biden

      Republicans gear up to oust Liz Cheney as punishment for criticizing Trump
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      Republican Joni Ernst accuses party of cancel culture over Liz Cheney ousting More

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      ‘We must speak the truth’: Liz Cheney defiant in speech ahead of ouster from top Republican job

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      On the eve of a vote almost certain to remove her from a leadership role in the Republican party, a defiant Liz Cheney embraced her fall from party grace and offered a final appeal to her colleagues: “We must speak the truth.”Republicans are poised to remove Cheney from her House leadership position over her refusal to support Donald Trump’s “big lie” that last year’s election was stolen from him. Cheney, a Wyoming representative who hails from a Republican political dynasty, was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection” following the deadly 6 January attack on the Capitol.In the weeks since, her assertions that the 2020 elections were valid, and that Trump was wrong to sir up supporters who rioted in his name, have driven a wedge between her and fellow Republicans who remain loyal to the former president.In a speech on the House floor on Tuesday evening, Cheney was steadfast. “I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the president’s crusade to undermine our democracy,” she said.Wearing a pin replicating George Washington’s battle flag, Cheney justified her positions by referencing her time at the US state department, comparing the Capitol attack to events she’s seen in authoritarian countries.A staunch, lifelong conservative and the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, she is almost certain to be replaced on Wednesday as the No 3 House Republican by Elise Stefanik, a New York representative who holds more moderate views on most matters, bar the validity of the last elections.“This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship,” Cheney said. “This is about our duty as Americans.”Critics have said that Cheney’s appeals for a fair democracy sound hypocritical, considering that she voted against the For the People Act to protect voting rights, and against enfranchising Washington, DC residents.Cheney’s fate is a sign of Trump’s enduring grip on the Republican party. Her ouster comes as Arizona Republicans carry through a sham audit of the votes in Maricopa county, Arizona, employing a firm called Cyber Ninjas to investigate conspiracy theories including the false claim that ballots with traces of bamboo were smuggled in from Asia.As part of her swan song on the House floor, Cheney referred to Trump as a “threat” and reiterated: “The election is over. That is the rule of law.” More

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      Democrats propose quick reaction force in $2.1bn Capitol security bill

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      House Democrats plan on Wednesday to unveil a $2.1bn supplemental bill to enhance security at the Capitol that will propose creating a quick reaction force to guard against future threats in the wake of the Capitol attack, according to sources familiar with the matter.The proposed bill will also include the construction of a retractable fencing system around the Capitol, the sources said.Rose DeLauro, chair of the House appropriations committee, is expected to unveil the proposal to House Democrats on a caucus call on Wednesday, amid growing calls urging the adoption of recommendations made by a taskforce in the wake of the 6 January insurrection in which a pro-Trump mob ransacked the Capitol.No lawmakers were injured during the attack, but several, such as Senator Mitt Romney and former vice-president Mike Pence had only a narrow escape from attackers looking for them. Meanwhile, nearly 140 officers suffered injuries and one, Brian Sicknick, later died after being assaulted.The proposed bill largely tracks recommendations made by retired Army Lt Gen Russel Honoré, who was appointed by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to examine security shortcomings, as well as critical flaws identified by the US Capitol police inspector general, the sources said.In the report released to House Democratic leaders last month, Honoré made a series of recommendations, including hiring more than 800 US Capitol police officers, the construction of mobile fencing around the Capitol, and an overhaul of the US Capitol police board.“We are trying to take into consideration understanding what happened, how do we account for that and what we need to do to prevent this from happening again,” DeLauro said of the taskforce recommendations after its release last month.The proposed bill, which could be brought to the House floor as early as next week, will also include a provision to reimburse the national guard deployed around the Capitol. The national guard and other security measures post-6 January is costing nearly $2m a week.Its prospects are still uncertain on Capitol Hill, with House Democrats largely going ahead with the security review alone and Republicans yet to indicate what measures, if any, they are willing to embrace.Lawmakers in both parties largely agree on the need for enhanced security but some – Republicans in particular – have been agitating to scale back the barriers encircling the area and troops patrolling the grounds despite lingering threats.“While there may be some worthy recommendations forthcoming, Gen Honoré’s notorious partisan bias calls into question the rationality of appointing him to lead this important security review,” Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, said of the taskforce in March.“It also raises the unacceptable possibility that the speaker desired a certain result: turning the Capitol into a fortress.”The issue has exposed the divide between members of Congress who want the Capitol to return to a sense of normalcy, and the concerns of US Capitol police and a raft of law enforcement agencies tasked with their protection. More

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      Divided Republicans reunite to mount defense of filibuster

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      While congressional Democrats hope to make dramatic changes to a controversial legislative tool that has stalled bills in the Senate and could be used to frustrate Joe Biden’s ambitious agenda, Republicans are mounting an all-out defense to protect it.Conservative outside groups have been organizing overtly and covertly to counter Democratic pressure to gut the filibuster – a Senate device that in effect allows the minority party to halt proposed legislation.While Democrats have been struggling to unite members of their Senate caucus, especially the more centrist holdouts, to get rid of the filibuster, their Republican counterparts have been lockstep in opposing changes.Meanwhile, Republican outside groups have churned out polling, aired ads, organized gatherings and released statements warning of the long-term consequences of changing the rule. It is a concerted program that Republicans see as vital to preserving their power in the Biden era, while Democrats see it as a potential threat to their attempts to bring in meaningful legislation.The cause has reunited Republicans after the divisiveness of the Trump era – bringing together business interests, Trumpist politicians and their anti-Trump opponents in the party, as well traditional big donors to conservative causes.For Republicans involved in the fight, the campaign to preserve the filibuster is a historically important one. “The filibuster really serves as that backstop against heat-of-the-moment politics,” said Garrett Bess, vice-president for government relations for Heritage Action for America, a non-profit group aligned with the conservative Heritage Foundation thinktank.Bess said his group sought to ensure “that people understand what is on the other side of changing the filibuster. So when we’re talking to a conservative audience or a right-of-center audience, on the other side of the filibuster is higher taxes and gun control and taxpayer-funded abortion. Those kinds of things.”In front of a more moderate audience, Bess said, the argument is to warn about statehood for Washington DC or Democrats’ voting rights package. Bess said Heritage Action had focused on talking with “constituencies of Democratic senators in which we have a very large footprint – Arizona, Georgia, West Virginia” and was expanding into New Hampshire, Bess said.In late April, One Nation, an outside group aligned with Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican Senate minority leader, released polling from Arizona and New Hampshire, Nevada and West Virginia to argue against filibuster reform. Arizona and West Virginia are the two states with the most conservative Democrats in the caucus. The polling found that voters were largely unaware of the filibuster and when they were made aware “in fairly neutral terms, support for keeping the filibuster is solid”.“On the filibuster, voters are much more aligned with the position and statements of Senator Kyrsten Sinema than they are with the position and statements of Senator Mark Kelly,” the One Nation polling memo said. Sinema has expressed stubborn opposition to changing the filibuster while Kelly has expressed openness to some kind of reform.The fact that one of the primary McConnell-aligned groups published those results underscores congressional Republicans’ position on the filibuster. McConnell has warned about longer-term consequences of filibuster reform and has argued it would change change the Senate to a “scorched-earth” body.“Let me say this very clearly for all 99 of my colleagues: nobody serving in this chamber can even begin, can even begin, to imagine what a completely scorched-earth Senate would look like,” the top Republican said in March. Heritage Action and 28 other groups published a letter in January urging every member of the Senate to oppose filibuster reform.“The legislative filibuster is an essential part of ensuring a strong system of checks and balances,” the letter read. “While we typically do not weigh in on Congressional procedure, we believe elimination of the filibuster could result in a slew of destructive policy changes.”Manchin and Sinema are favorite targets for conservatives looking to fight support for filibuster reform. Americans for Prosperity, another outside group, funded by Charles Koch, has launched a six-figure ad campaign focused on those two senators.Similarly, Ken Cuccinelli, a former official in the Department of Homeland Security during Donald Trump’s presidency and a former attorney general of Virginia, is leading a conservative group that has encouraged Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia to oppose filibuster reform.Even the US Chamber of Commerce, which at times has worked with Joe Biden’s administration and endorsed a set of congressional Democrats, has voiced opposition to filibuster reform. Suzanne Clark, the president and CEO of the chamber, tweeted the group’s statement.Issues of national importance deserve the time, thoughtfulness, and deliberation that the #filibuster provides. Debate doesn’t have to mean obstruction—lawmakers should be able to have passionate convictions AND find solutions. Read our full statement: https://t.co/z9YPkm7x3E— Suzanne Clark (@SuzanneUSCC) March 16, 2021
      Thank you @Sen_JoeManchin for your principled stand on preserving the #filibuster. American businesses—together with the West Virginians you serve so well—appreciate your commitment to solving our nation’s problems through collaboration and consensus-building. #leadership— Suzanne Clark (@SuzanneUSCC) April 9, 2021
      Issues of national importance deserve the time, thoughtfulness, and deliberation that the #filibuster provides. Debate doesn’t have to mean obstruction—lawmakers should be able to have passionate convictions AND find solutions. Read our full statement: https://t.co/z9YPkm7x3E— Suzanne Clark (@SuzanneUSCC) March 16, 2021
      Whether the filibuster will be dramatically altered depends on Democrats. No Republican senator has expressed support for it – and at this point, there are not enough Democratic votes to change it.Democrats who do not usually weigh in on Senate procedure or legislating have begun to argue for reform, however.And more than 350 prominent historians published a letter arguing for getting rid of the filibuster.“Only in recent decades have filibusters effectively created a regular supermajority threshold for routine legislation, with prior norms of restraint all but disappearing,” the letter, first reported by Talking Points Memo, said.Fix Our Senate, an alliance of about 70 groups that aims to get rid of the filibuster, has launched a six-figure ad buy urging Democrats to gut the mechanism. The group will also be holding a town hall with senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to argue for its elimination.“It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Republican leaders and their special interest allies are pulling out all the stops to protect the filibuster as the best weapon they have to block President Biden’s agenda and prevent Democrats from delivering on their promises,” Eli Zupnik, a Fix Our Senate spokesman, said in a statement. “But voters across the country are learning more about this ‘Jim Crow relic’ and will see through these desperate attempts by Senate Republicans to maintain power from the minority.” More